AN APPENDIX 


“fC THE DOCUMENTS PRINTED BY THE VESTRY, CONNECTED WITH 
THE RESIGNATION OF THE RECTOR OF CHRIST CHURCH. 


I. 
basics a ae Rareien, August 22, 1840. | 
In the report of the Committee adopted by the Vestry, 
reference is made (p. 4 & 5 of the Pamphlet) to St. Paul’s 
decision concerning the lawfulness of joining in the feasts 
which followed the idolatrous sacrifices of-the Heathen. 
That reference, itis thought, might, with propriety have 
been extended so as to take in the whole of the Apostle’s 
‘doctrine upon the subject. | 
When this question occured, the Apostle was careful 
to ‘point out the importance of example, and the danger 
of countenancing the appearance of evil. It is true, he 
argues, the matter is indifferent in itself.’ ‘‘ Meat com- 
mendeth us not to God; for neither if we eat, are we the 
better; neither if we eat not, are we the worse. But 
take heed, lest by any means this liberty of yours becomes 
a stumbling-block to them that are weak. For if any man 
see thee which hast knowledge, sit at meat in the idol’s 
temple, shall\ not the conscience of him that is weak be 
emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols : 
and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish 
for whom Christ died? But, when ye sin so against the 
brethi en, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against 
Christ. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, 
1 will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my 
brother to offend.”’ $ fie, 
Here the Apostle furnishes a rule, which, much as the 
particular circumstances under which it was laid down 
differ from those in which we are placed, may be regarded 
as a general one, ‘‘ of universal application as to the spirit 
which influences the true Christian.” It is a rule too, 
which is easily comprehended and applied by the most 
simple and ignorant; and the conscientious observance of 
it will go very far to preyent any such practical difference 


&, 


2 


of sentiment between Minister and People, as that which 
had led to the publication of the Vestry’s Pamphlet and 
this Appendix. = | i 

What was said in the foregoing section respecting the 
reference to St. Paul’s teaching, may also be applied to 
the use made in the report (p. 4,5, & 6,) of the language 
of another. The quotations here alluded to, though the 
authority is not given, it is well known, are from a work 
(of the present Bishop of Chester, in England, the Rt. 
Rev. Joun Birp Sumner,) entitled ‘A postolical Preach- 
“ing considered,’ and from the 8th chapter of that work, 
which treats of ‘“‘Intercourse with the World.” These 
passages, whether intended in the report to be used as 
authority, or only employed as expressing accurately the 
views of the Vestry, certainly do not fairly represent the 
opinions and teachings of the author, upon the subject 
of the inconsistency of ‘‘ worldly amusements” with the 
Christian character and profession. This, the following 
extracts from the same work and from the very same 
chapter, it is thought will abundantly show. 

1. ‘* If we look to the present age, which is our more 
immediate concern, it certainly cannot be pretended that 
there is no opposition existing, and therefore none to be 
dreaded, between the world and Christianity. This 
opposition must be equivocally acknowledged, till the 
précepts of the Gospel are universally received as law by 
which the morality of actions is to be estimated, and till 
the corrupt passions cease to become ‘a law unto them- 
selves,’ with the connivance or consent of mankind» As 
long as sins of impurity, such as are declared by the 
Gospel to exclude from any “ inheritance in the kingdom 
of Heaven,” are passed over with complacency by society, 
unless attended with very gross aggravations ; as long as 
a life spent in a course of uselessness, frivolity and vanity 
as considered as an innocent employment of the talents, 
time, fortunes and understanding committed to our im- 
provement ; as long as a practice like that of duelling, 
which must either involve the risk of suicide or murder, 
is not only deemed venial but honorable ;_ so long, at least, 
conformity with the world is enmity with God; so long 
the Christian is called upon to choose which he will serve, 
the world or Christ ; as long as those who profess the 


3 


e 
jaw of the Gospel, shall acknowledge a law which op- 
poses it, so long must the true followers of Christ form a 
world within a world.” (p. 154,155.) 

2. “Dill the Christian and the man of the world more 
nearly agree, the distinction between the visible and in-. 
visible Church, will be unhappily too just, and the differ- 
ence must be clearly marked out between those who suf- 
fer “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches 
to choke the word,” and those. on the other hand who 
“receive it inte good ground, and bring forth fruit, thirty, 
or sixty, or an hundred fold.” » (p. 156, 157.) 

8. “The result of the difference is, that @ constant 
opposition exists between the two contending principles of 
the world and the Gospel ; and its effects upon the Chris- 
tian is to involve him ina perpetual conflict, not only with 
his own inward corruption, but with the world around 
him, which disguises the aspect of things, and represents 
what is honorable in the sight of men, as innocent in the 
sight of God. Amid the confusion of right and wrong, 
which arises from a nominal conformity to the Gospel, 
and a practical deviation from it, it is no easy task to dis- 
cern the precise line to which compliance may go, and 
where it must be resolutely withheld. Christians, there- 
fore, are to be warned, that Satan is the prince of that 
world in which they are placed to walk for a time, and in 
which their business and their thoughts are necessarily 
engaged, so that if is not to be considered as a friendly 
country, where they may throw aside caution, indulge 
repose, or sit down in security, but is an enemy’s land 
and abounds with dangers.” (p. 157.) | 

4, **How diffieult is it to maintain an intercourse with 
the world, without allowing temporal motives to sway 
our pursuits and actions, instead of those which the Gos- 
pel sets before us; and since the honorable exertion of 
mental talents ensures general applause and reputation, 
how easily are we seduced to employ them for this object, 
in a manner which does not forward piety, and shows 
little consideration of the honor of the giver! The most 
usual and successful bait, however, which the world holds 
out, is pleasure.” (p. 158.) 7 ; 

5. ‘“‘There must, undoubtedly, be no sinful compro- 
mise, no conformity with practices unworthy our profes- 
sion, because they are commonly admitted by the world, 


4 


for the sake of any eventual good which might be hoped 
from such connivance. The advantage is doubtful ; the 
evil certain.”? (p. 161.) 

6. “If” the Minister ‘takes his stand on the ground 
of inexpediency, he has certainly much to argue; for there 
can be no doubt that public assemblages and diversions 
have a strong tendency to withdraw, the mind from things 
above to things below ; that the common routine of society 
is generally a waste of time, if not of something still more 
valuable ; and that 1rIs RARE INDEED TO FIND A PERSON 
ADDICTED TO THESE COMPLIANCES WITH THE WORLD, 
‘WHO DOES NOT CONFINE HIS VIEWS OF RELIGION TO A 
ee LOW AND INSUFFICIENT STANDARD.” (p. 162.) 

7. “There is a truth, an universal foun which must 
neither be withheld nor disguised ;_ that the world, even 
the nominally Christian world, has objects which are not 
Christian ; that it offers many pursuits which are incon- 
sistent with the Gospel, and many more which are hindran- 
ces in the way of real faith ; that it tempts with pleasures 
which indispose to piety, and are adverse to the love of 
God. Into these dangers the mind will infallibly be led, 
and swerve towards these objects; unless it is habitually 
referred to an example more spiritual, and a standard 
more exalted, than the general practice of mankind exhi- 
bits. With this view, let the preacher lay before his 
congregation the practical parts of the epistles. What 
the letéer of the law may have left unrevealed, its spirit 
will supply. It will soon appear that the presiding faith, 
the fervent love of God and of heavenly things, the simple 
and humble mind, which the Apostles demand, are incom- 
patible with the tumult of much intercourse with general 
society, and with the vanity and bustle of worldly plea- 
sures, It will appear that the habitual relaxation of a Chris- 
tian is not to be sought in amusements that weary where 
they ought to refresh, that ruffle the temper which they 
are intended to compose, and disturb those better affec- 
tions of the heart, which it is most important to cherish ; 
but in the quiet charms of friendship, in the indulgence 
of domestic tenderness, in the pursuit of those elegant 
charms of literature and the arts which are not only harm- 
less and unimpeachable, but chasten and adorn the mand, 
(p- 163.) 

The foregoing extracts may be thought to be at variance 


5 
with the passages quoted in the paper of the Vestry. But 
it should be considered that the excellent author is ad- 
dressing himself to Clergymen, and advising them as to the 
best and most Scriptural mode of preaching the Gospel and 
applying its~doctrines’ and principles to the hearts and 
consciences of men. On this subject of worldly amuse- 
ments, he is aiming, not so much to discuss the allowable- 
ness of them among Christians, as to lay down some gene- 
ral rules for the guidance of Ministers in their treatment of 
the question. He would not have the Minister oppose them 
on the untenable grounds, either that they are expressly 
forbidden by the author of our Holy Religion, or that they 
are wrong in themselves; but on that of their inexpediency, 
their tendency, their incompatibility: with the growth 
and exercise of the Christian graces. On this ground, it 
is evident, from the extracts which have been given, that 
he himself is as decided in his opposition to the prevalence 
of worldly amusements among Christian people, as the 
Rector of Christ Church has shown himself to be.. Indeed 
these extracts are believed to cover fully the ground taken 
by the Rector.~ He has never, he thinks, taught or held, 
that the practices on the part of the communicants of his 
charge to which he objects, are “expressly forbidden in 
Scripture” cr that they are “wrong in themselves.”” The 
inexpediency of these things arising from their known 
tendency 4nd influence, and their incompatibility with 
the. exercise of “the presiding faith, the fervent love of 
God and of Heavenly things, the simple and humble 
mind, which the Apostles’? and the whole tenor of the 
revealed word “demand ”’—these have ever been, sub- 
stantially, the ground on which the Rector has taken his 
stand and raised his voice against the prevailing practice 
among the members -of his Communion; and he might 
safely appéal to the body of ‘his congregation, as well as 
to his written sermons, for proof that such 1s the fact. 
Surely no other ground is taken or implied in the paper 
submitted by him to the Vestry. He has maintained, as 
he there ‘states, and he still feels it his duty to maintain, 
that “‘ Communicants of the same Chureh” cannot indulge 
in the amusements of which he speaks, ‘ consistently with 
the solemn vows which are upon them, and their sacreé 
character as ‘ Temples of the Holy Ghost,’ as ‘ members 
of Christ, children of God and inheritors of the kingdom 


itd 


6 


of Heaven ;’ but this-is no more than to assert, with 
Bishop Sumner, the incompatibility of ‘the presiding 
faith, the fervent love of God and Heavenly things, the 
simple and humble mind which the Apostles demand, 
with the vanity and bustle of worldly pleasures.” He has 
also declared; what, with deepened eonviction, he now 
repeats, that itis his ‘‘ honest and decided belief, that the 
practice ” to which he objects ‘‘ if persevered in, willbe 
ultimately destructive of all vital religion in the eongre- 
gation ;’’ but this is seareely stronger language than that 
of the same excellent Bishop, when he says ‘“there can 
be no doubt that public assemblages and diversions have 
a. strong tendency to withdraw themind from things above 
to things below”’—and “it is rare indeed to find a person 
addicted to these comphiances with the world, who does 
not confine his views of religion to a very low and msuf- 


ficient standard.” Indeed the object of that paper was 


neither to criminate the Vestry and Congregation, nor to 
argue the question of the. lawfulness of worldly amuse- 


ments, as must be obvious to any impartial person ; there 


being neither any attempt at argumentation, nor so much 
as an assertion relative to that question. ‘There is be- 
hieved to be nothing in it inconsistent with the admission 
that, after all, the Vestry and Congregation may be right 
and the Rector wrong in opinion. Its sole object was 
to give a statement of the facts which had* conducted 
the Rector to the conclusion that he could ‘‘ no longer be 
substantially useful to the people of his charge,” and thus 
to show that he had not acted without reason, and capri- 
eiously. © 


TIt. 


The Vestry in their paper, (p. 5 & 6,) express regret 
that their minister should entertain views different from 
those of themselves and ‘‘a majority of the Congregation,” 
and do not hesitate to express the opinion that his are 
‘* mistaken views.” That his views are mistaken, is cer- 
tainly possible—tor he has never set up a elaim to. infalli- 
bility—but whether, had his views been exactly accor- 
dant with theirs upon the subject of the present difference, 
he would have been more highly respected and esteemed 
by chet as a Mir ‘ster of Jesus Christ, may well be ques- 
tioned, : 


é 


Be that as it may, he is happy in being able to show 
that his are not peculiar views, but are fully sanctioned 
and sustained by others who stand high in the Church— 
not only, as has been shown, by the distinguised Bishop 
of Chester, but by his ownyrespected Diocesan, Bishop 
Ives, by the late eminent and pious Bishop of Limerick, 
and by the devoted and influential Layman of the Church, 
who is . Editor of the “‘ Banner of the Cross.’’ To these 
a vhost of other names, both of fathers and sons in the 
Chureh might be added, but itis not necessary. The 
Reetor of Christ Church may weli be content with the 
countenance and support given to his “ views”? in the do- 
cuments which follow. | 7 

LETTER FROM BISHOP IVES TO THE EDITOR OF THE 

RALEIGH REGISTER. ~~ 


, | » Raxvetren, Fes. 8, 1840. 
~ My:Dear Sir: I have observed, with great pleasure, 
that a column or two of your valuable paper, in its much if 
improved form, is devoted to the cause of sound Morality 
and Religion. Whatever may be the differences of opi- 
nion among Christian men on the subject of what is called 
‘ Worldly Amusements,’ I cannot doubt that all who have 
heard the name of the good Bishop of Limerick—a name 
associated with whatever is holy in life, and wise in coun- 
sel—will be glad to know, and ready to defer to his views 
on the subject; a subject, which, whatever may be 
thought of it, must be confessed by all, to be one of deep 
and essential interest to the present and eternal welfare of 
the. redeemed, but erring creatures of God. You will, 
therefore, confer a favor, I doubt not, on many of your 
Subseribers, by giving a place in your columns to the ac- 
companying letter of Bishop Jess, prefaced by the Editor 
of the ‘‘ Banner,” who is an actiye and justly influencial 
Layman of the Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. With 
high respect, your friend and servant, gee 18 
Ws | i L. 8. IVES. 


[ee 


wi 


$A 


# 


ae 
o - 


na 


. [From THE “BANNER OF THE CRoss.”’] 
| WORLDLY AMUSEMENTS. . 


We have inserted among the selections of the present 
number, an extract froma letter written by Mr., afterwards 
Bishop, Jebb, some thirty years ago, to a young Irish 
clergyman, on the subject of worldly amusements, and 
beg leave to recommend it to the attentive perusal of all 
our readers, both clerical and lay. There is too near an, 
approximation among Christians to the customs of the 
world, and with many, the dividing line is profession only. 
They manifest the same eager pursuit of, wealth and 
pleasure, the same devotion to fashion, and the same.sel- 
fishness and luxurious indulgence as those who have 
taken no religious vows upon them; and, as we lately 
observed, do more by their pernicious example to retard 
the progress of the Gospel, than all the opposition of its 
avowed enemies has ever been able to accomplish. ‘The 
responsibility of such unworthy professors is a fearful one, 
for not only is their own end ‘destruction,’ but they in- 
volve others also in their ruin;.and the delinquency is 
sufficiently general to make it a matter of personal con- 
cernment with every individual to appropriate to himself 
the interrogatory of the sorrowing disciples, ‘“‘ Lorp is 
it [2 and seek the solution, where alone it can be found, 
in the revelation, which he has given us of our duty. 
Clergymen, says Bishop Jebb, in another, part of his 
letter, “‘ should be cautious even to. jealousy that they 
lose not their vantage ground ; that they swerve not an 
inch from their peculiar and appropriate calling. ‘Ye are 
the light of the world’ said our blessed Lorn, ‘ but if the 
light that isin you be darkness, how great is that dark- 
ness.’ * * In matters decidedly indifferent, it is indeed 
right that we should conform to the usages of. civilized 
life. Good sense and Christian charity require this at 
our hands. Thus we may please our brethern for their 
good to edification; and of this judicious and amiable 
conformity we have an exquisite model in Him who is as 
our greatexample. ut whenever conscience and religion 
are concerned, as they essentially are in this point of 
amusements, our line of duty is clear and unequivoca : 


~*Come out from among them—be ye separate,’ is .the 


language ‘of Scripture, of conscience, of feeling, and of all 


ip 
9 


that is spiritual within us. I will only add, that the case 
of all who stifle this voice is singularly awful.” 


‘LETTER FROM BISHOP JEBB TO A CLERGYMAN. 


My Dear Sir » It has-given me deep concern that you 
were at Mrs, —~——’s ball.’ I had-indulged expectations, 
too sanguine, as the event proves, that you possessed suf- 
_ ficient steadiness and resolution to act upon what I know 
must be your inward conviction respecting the common 
amusements of the world. The utter incompatibility of 
such tumultuous.gaieties, with Christian seriousness, you 
should be at least as well aware of, as I can possibly be. 
For such scenes you have no relish ; they must be to you 
as a ‘strange and unnatural element. Why then should 
you sanction them by your presence?) Why should you 
thus do violence to your principles and your feelings ? 
And why thus contradict by your practice, without even 
the shadow of rational inducement, the general tenor of 
your doctrine from the pulpit? | 

Perhaps, my. dear Sir, you have never distinctly adver- 
ted to the fact, that what constituted the essential guilt of 
idolatry, in the early periods of the world, is fully implied 
in attachment to the amusements of the present day. The 
grossest idolatry did not more effectually defraud the one 
true God of the worship that was due to Him, as a pro- 
vidential and moral governor, than ‘attachment to such 
amusements) precludes devatedness to heart to the same 
gracious Being, as the source and centre of all true hap- 
piness. .This will appear upon very brief consideration. 
That natural thirst after some undefined good, that irk- 
someness of life, that craving void of soul, under which 
half the world is laboring, are all so many indications, 
that something is wanting which the world cannot give ; 
are all kindly meant to impel us to the blessed fountain of 
goodness, of enjoyment, of full and complete bliss. On 
the other hand, ean it be doubted, that diversions are the 
chief engines of a diabolical counter-scheme, by which 
people are enabled, at least for a time, to get rid of them- 
selves; and are thus kept from earnestly and devotedly 
betaking themselves to God, as their light, their life, and 


the very joy of their heart? Now if these things be so, - ’ 


it inevitably follows, that common amusements contain 


Hy 


HY 


10 


the very essence of spiritual idolatry ; and for my own 
part, I have no doubt that the great enemy can hardly be 
more deeply gratified, or the interests of his dark king- 
dom more essentially promoted, than when souls capable 
of God, are seduced to prop up “a frail and feverish 
being ” by those wretched shifis-and expedients, which 
are miscalled the innocent pleasures of life. 

Observe, that I presume not in this matter, to judge the 
mass of society. Before a far different tribunal it must 
stand or fall: Great multitudes unquestionably err 
through ignorance ; and as God mer cifully winked at the 
cross idolatry of the. Gentiles, itis highly probable that 
he now winks at the subtler idolatry of mere professing, 
or of imperfectly informed, Christians. Itis however a 
most instructive fact, that against the idolatry of His*own 
people—of those who. had been taught to know, and 
trained to adore Him—His denunciations and:indications 
were tremendously severe. A most instructive fact; for 
it follows, by inevitable consequence, that they who have 
been brought within the higher influences of Christianity, 
cannot, without deep criminality, and ‘extreme hazard, 
break down the barriers between themselves and the 
world; or in any degree countenance a system ree ie goes 
to shut out God from the heart. 

What estimate the sacred writers formed of such enjoy- 
ments as the world delights in, it is needless for me to 
state. Let me barely direct your attention to that passage 
of Isaiah: ‘* The harp and the viol, and the tabor and 
the pipe, and, wine, are in their feasts ; ; but they regard 
not the work of the ‘Lord, neither consider the operation 
of His hands ;” and that other of Amos, ‘they chaunt to 
the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instru- 
ments of musie,” &c. The sequel is doubtless. familiar 
to your mind, and it is awfully decisive. 

How different the picture given by the last of the pro- 
phets in that lovely passage, where he decribes the inter- 
course of good men, in times of public calamity—in times 
not unlike the’ present ! ! «Then they that feared God spake 
often to one another; and the Lord hearkened and. heard 
it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him, 
for.them that feared the Lord, and that thought of his 
name; and they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, 
in that day when'I make up my jewels.” It would be 


oF 


Il 


a 


trifling with a serious subject to ask, is this thé manner of 
communication that prevails in scenes of tumultous gaiety? 
But it may be fairly inquired, would not such conversa- 
tion be incompatible with the whole scope and character 
of these assemblages? Nay, would it not, amidst such 
eonconiitants, be justly accounted at once ridiculous and 
profane? Cana Christian then (I use the term in-the 
highest and only adequate sense)—can a Christian con- 
sistently and conscientiously frequent meetings which by 
thew very nature exclude those topics which should be ha- 
bitually present with us ; and of which'we are not only to 
think, but also to speak, “when we sit in the house, and 
» when we walk by the way ; when we lie down, and when 


er ‘ 


eR eT ta tn ane, bh 
‘Thus far I have merely considered the case of any 
serious Christian. But how transcendant is the obligation, 
how solemn the responsibility of a Christian teacher! 
When our Lord in his divine sermon, exhorts his followers 
to “Center in-at the straight gate,’’ he immediately sub- 
joins this most significant warning: ‘‘ Beware of false 
prophets:’’ intimating. what the experience of eighteen 
centuries; has but too abundantly confirmed, that. the 
‘most effectual obstacles in the way of strict religion, and 
the most dangerous seductives would be furnished by the 
erroneous doctrine and example of religious instructors. 
The ‘‘ wide gate, and the broad way,’’ may be fairly taken 
_ to signify the way of the world. And since it,is notorious 
that tumultous gaieties constitute the chief occupation of 
this frequented road, and are the great allurements which 
induce multitudes to choose it, what can be more empha- 
tically the duty of a Christian Minister, than to bear tes- 
timony, at least by his own undeviating example, against 
such anti-spiritual pursuits! Or how can he more fatally 
betray the holy cause, which he has been solemnly set 
apart to defend, than by a weak and dastardly compliance 
with the ruinous practices of the world? I use strong 
language: | can employ no other to do common justice 
to what I feel.. And Iam cons¢ious that my words fall 
infinitely short to the mischief which they attempt to des- 
eribe. If a clergyman were to commit some fiagitious 
enormity ; if he were to forge a bank note, or to rob on 
the highway, the act, though more atrocious, would be far 
less prejudicial to the cause of true religion; for he would 
a 


oe “ 


12 


not then be‘ Exemplar vitiis imitabile.” His conduet 
would be reprobated ; his character would be stigmatized; 
his life would be forfeited to the laws of his country, but 
Christianity would remain uninjured’ and unblenched. 
On the other hand, it should “be deeply ‘laid to heart, that 
the more innocent, "the more edifying, the more exemplary 
a Minister is, in all other respects, the more deadly will 
be his example, if he should unhappily give countenance 


to the pleasure-seeking propensities of the world. The’ 


thorough-paced votary of amusement would give little for 
the testimony of halfa score buck parsons ; but a sober, 


serious clergyman is felt to be an. invaluable acquisition. 


He will be triumphantly. quoted, asa model of unstarehed, — 


uncanting, unfanatical religion. His | very virtues will 


_ be pressed into the service’ of vice ; his piety itself-will, by 


an ingenious, but not unusual artifice, be. employed’ to 
raise recruits ‘for the next campaign of pleasure, and - to 


swell the muster-roll of dissipation. Ido’ by no means © 


speak at random; these things I have seen and heard. “I 
myself have been assailed with arguments drawn from thé 
example of clergymen “who were at‘ once good and 
pleasant ; whose zeal and charity were exemplary, and 
yet they did not scruple to promote the innocent. gaieties 
of life ;” and well do I know, that such specious examples. 
have decided many a wavering heart to choose this world 
for its portion. This, indeed, is perfectly natural. Sup- 
pose an amiable and religiously disposed: person, for the 
first time in her life, introduced into a ball-room:” ‘ half 


pleased and half afraid ;” hesitating between God and the 


world; now, resolving to withdraw’ from those vanities 
which at her baptism she promised to renounce ; now 
tempted to mingle with the erowd, and to do like other 
people. Suppose that)-at this critical moment of suspense, 
she should spy out in ‘the giddy throng, a clergyman ; a 

respectable clergyman ; a. man beloved for his virtues, id 
revered for his piety :—would hot this be decisive, would 
it not fatally turn the balance? Imust soberly pronounce, 
that in such circumstantes, the weight of such an ex- 
ample would be next to irresistible ; and it is easier to 
imagine than to state, how tremendous may be the con- 


_ sequences in this life, and in that which is to come. 


t ‘+ 


rs. 


Se 
ee 


